McConnellsburg High/Middle School To Present “Footloose”

Pictured, left: Damon Knepper, Briana McFadden, Kyle Li, Rebecca Wenschhof and Grace Strait. Fifty cast and crew members will present the musical “Footloose” Friday and Saturday March 22 and 23 and Sunday matinee on March 24, 2019, at McConnellsburg High School.

“Footloose” is a touching story of two families coming to terms with a loss. A free- spirited young man, Ren McCormack (Kyle Li) has to leave Chicago. He tells his friends that his dad has walked out on him so he and his mother, Ethel (Rebecca Wenschhof) are moving to a small Mid- Western town where they moved in with Aunt Lulu (Hannah Dick) and her husband Wes (Kyler Hale). Ren and Ethel are introduced to the members of the community and get their first glimpse of Rev. Shaw Moore (Kaleb Skiles), his wife Vi (Grace Strait), gym teacher Roger Dunbar (Logan Souders) and his wife Eleanor (Mariah Christy). Though he tries hard to fit in, Ren can’t quite believe he’s living in a place where popular music and dancing are banned.

Things get more interesting when he meets the minister’s daughter Ariel (Briana McFadden), her best friend Rusty (Olivia Alexander), and the girls: Urleen (Madisyn Culler) and Wendy Jo (Megan Fix).

Ariel’s boyfriend, Chuck Cranston (Damon Knepper) is a bad guy and school dropout. Ariel is rebelling to get attention, trying to forget about the fact that she is actually a “good girl” and the minister’s daughter.

Ren meets up with Willard (Edward Wenschhof ) at school and shows him some dance moves but they get in trouble with the school principal Harriet Clark (Mary Booth). He gets his first warning – Bomont outlawed dancing. Ren becomes friends with Jeter (Jonah Peck), Bickle (Cabe Batdroff) and Garvin (Cruz Ortiz), who help him in his plot to get dancing back in town. Chuck’s buddies are portrayed by Lyle (Elliott Wakefield) and Travis (Jackson Sharpe). The towns people and high school students include the cop (Kris Stermer), Betty Blast (Grace Hendershott), owner of the Burger Blast, Cowgirl Bobbi (Mariah Christy), Lexi Lupey, Ary Lupey, Kaily Swope, Imagine Jansen, Briana Felty, Reagan Stolipher, Julia Forquer, Dante Birgiensmith, Cooper Toothman, Alaija Jefferson, Emma Peck, Nevaeh Boden, Faith Dickerson, Emily Harper, Alex Mumma.

The 2018 musical “Seussical” won Outstanding Vocal Duet “Alone in the Universe” by Briana McFadden and Brice Feagley, and the Jean Stapleton Award was given to Edward Wenschhof at the Totem Pole Playhouse Awards.

Monetary contributions can be sent to Mc- Connellsburg High School, c/o Nancy Shearer 151 East Cherry Street, McConnellsburg PA 17233

Mark calendars for March 22 and 23, 2019, at 7 p.m. and Sunday March 24, 2019, at 2 p.m., for a Sunday matinee in the high school auditorium.

Adults tickets are $5 and students $4.

This project is supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Cultural Alliance of York. The grant money will be used to defray production expenses. The PA Partners in the Arts (PPA) is an initiative between local arts organizations and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), a state agency. State government funding for the arts comes through an annual appropriation by PA’s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by the Cultural Alliance of York.